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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28015410">Long Overdue Visit</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GVNART/pseuds/GVNART'>GVNART</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>World of Warcraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:16:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28015410</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GVNART/pseuds/GVNART</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sera and Harph know each other exist now. It has been three years since Sera left after cutting off his father's hand in a panic, then proceeded to go into hiding. Neither being sure if the other was still alive. But now that they're both alive and well, verging into different paths in life, they reconcile with everything that happened. Or at the very least, take the first steps in doing so.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Long Overdue Visit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Harph laid in his bed, eyes shut and face twitching as his dreams wrought about his mind in the afternoon. It was only supposed to be a simple nap, but his exhausted body had other plans. It was 2pm, yet the brightness of the sun was blotted out by his closed blinds. Alas, he was awakened. Not by his own will, however. A </span>
  <em>
    <span>knock knock knock </span>
  </em>
  <span>hit his door, jolting him awake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lazily grumbled, wiping his face. “Eugh…” He stared up towards the ceiling, realizing how late he stayed in. Well, it wasn’t like he had much to get up for anyways. He was his own boss. He worked on his own time. But now he was awake, hungry for lunch, and someone was at his damn door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Knock knock knock!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He groaned, slowly leaning up from the bed. The wood of the floorboards creaked beneath the carpets strewn along the cabin floor, his feet putting extra weight onto it. “Comin’...” He muttered hopefully loud enough for the person on the other side to hear. He stood, stretching his back until it pops, then twisting his shoulders side to side. A symphony of cracks sounded out from his body, reminding him of his age. He began a slow stride towards the door and grabbed a shirt hanging from a dresser drawer on the way. It was a tacky yellow, with a multitude of vibrant flower prints painted on them. He recalled buying it off of some goblin merchant in Booty Bay. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Knock knock knock!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh for fuck’s...” His pace towards the door increased, his feet stomping along the ground impatiently. “I said I’m--!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swings the door open, shirt still loosely and hastily pulled over his body. Perhaps a size too small, with the bottom part of his belly poking out from it. It was then he realized that he should have grabbed something a little more formal. Especially when it was the first time in about four years that he had seen his son. “... Coming.” He trails off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seratoph stood at the door, dressed in his field gear with the Waning Flame’s sigil planted on his tabard. He had been wearing it in place of any normal attire since the threat of N’Zoth’s attack became more imminent than ever. Harph took a moment to even recognize Sera, nearly muttering something along the lines of “who the hell are you” before his eyes adjusted to the sunlight and he was fully awake. After that, his eyes widened like silver plates in his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh.” He sputtered out of his mouth. “You’re… Here.” His lips parted, unsure of what to say. How to say it. How to express everything suddenly flooding inside his gut. He felt light headed for a second, leaning against the door frame to keep him standing. There he was. His son. Finally right there, in the flesh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera finally spoke. “I talked with some merchants. They recognized your name. Told me you were out here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph nodded, not quite registering his words but going along with them. “Of course.” He stepped outside to his porch, closing the door behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing but the sound of the wind passing through leaves, gently shaking the trees was heard for a few seconds. Sera broke that silence. “So… You’re alive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph glanced down towards his arm and huffed. “I could say the same to you.” He finally brought himself to look on the boy’s face. Eyeing the few faint scars around his cheeks, his golden glowing eyes, as well as everything that had changed. His voice. Some of his structure. How he carries himself. “You’ve gotten older... I forget how quick you kids change.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Have I?” He asked, not noticing many of the changes over the course of their time separated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I-I mean, look at you. You’re dressed like you’re off about to scout somewhere, you’re holding yourself different, you…” He tried to explain further but fell a little flat, trailing off. “It’s still good seeing you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Sera spoke, a little flat. Less than what Harph was hoping for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That silence took over again, giving the two some awkward time to even think about what they were going to say. Finally, Sera talked again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So… Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph looked to him, expecting more. “Why what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera shrugged and gestured around vaguely. “Why… Everything? Why’d you think I’m dead, why didn’t you come find me, why’d you keep me with her?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph knew exactly who he was talking about. And just thinking about it made his gut sink. “I-I… Kid, look, it’s complicated.” He begins, finding a chair to settle down in. “You were just a boy. I know you’re skilled, but the wilds? With everything that’s happened since you left? It’s easy to lose hope.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera huffed in response, shaking his head. “Yeah, I know myself how easy it is to lose hope. I’ve lived by myself in the woods for three years before I found Iri.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph brought his only hand against his forehead, trying to keep up. “Sera, I--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” He called out, throwing his arms in the air. “F-For sixteen years, you were the only person I felt like I could give a shit about without being scared of! I had nobody because I was convinced the one person I did have was someone I killed!” He pointed towards Harph’s missing hand, frustration pouring out past his lips. “And now you’re back, a-and I don’t know whether you’re the same man from before or if you’re more aligned with Aela!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hearing that name did Harph in, let alone the implication of being more on her side. His breath involuntarily escaping his mouth. “Sera!” He cried out, silencing his ramble. He nearly stood from his seat but did everything he could to keep anything that could even appear as frustration at bay. “Kid, I… I was terrified of Aela. She convinced me that I could only ever make it through life with her. She made me afraid and convinced me that it was all I ever had. She…” He choked up, stopping to gather himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera listened, shoulders slumping in a disarming fashion as he explained at least something to him. Harph continued. “I’ve lived a good number of years. Lost count at this point. But she had me under her thumb for most of them.” He wiped his fingers along his eyes, yet kept his voice steady. “But in all that time, letting her hurt you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera stopped in his tracks, letting the words ruminate in his head before dropping down into a chair next to him. He leaned his elbow against the arm of it, his hand reaching up to cup around his own forehead, covering his eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt you. With that knife. I wanted to escape with nobody noticing, and I thought you’d stop me. So I just… I just swung. I didn’t even know it was you, I just--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph placed his hand on his shoulder, large yet gentle. “I know. I was shocked at first. Scared for you. But I get it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera continued. “I thought you would’ve turned me into Aela, and she’d do that stupid bullshit ‘training’ she put me through again. She’d punish me. Like she always did when I wasn’t living up to her standards.” His voice cracked as he spoke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph glanced up at him with concern, hand still planted firmly on his shoulder. He was just about to speak, but Sera cut in again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But then I realized what I did, a-and I thought… I thought I lost you.” He takes his hand off his face, revealing the tears that had been welling up in his eyes that had then begun trailing down his cheeks. “I thought I lost the one person who was there for me, and it was all my fucking fault…” His voice turned into a pitiful sob as he leaned forward, trying to cover up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph pulled him close, his arms wrapping around the boy for the first time in the longest time. Sera took a moment before latching on, burying his head in his shoulder and crying right into the shirt. He whispered towards Harph, clenching on as tight as he could. “I thought I killed you… I thought I ruined everything…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph felt tears threatening to pour from him as well, just looking onwards as he held Sera dearly. “It wasn’t your fault. That’s something she’d want you to think.” He nods affirmatively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sobbed more and just managed to get back on his own feet. But still stood close to him. “I never wanted to lose you. I was just… Scared of facing you. Everything that I did.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph pet down his hair, cupping his head as the other arm held around his back. “I was scared of that too. Of looking at everything I let happen in the eye… Of seeing you and only being greeted with you being afraid of me. I never wanted that...” He managed a humorous huff, despite everything. “Guess neither of us were let off easy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stood like that for a few minutes until the emotions subsided, Sera pulling off of him and back on his own legs. “What happens… What happens if Aela comes back? What if she finds us like we found each other? Even if just by chance?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph thought for a second. In all honesty, the idea terrified him. But he had to be brave. He had to be better. “This time, we know what we need to know. And you’ve got your whole family thing down in Stormwind. We’d be ready.” Harph gently takes Sera’s hands around his, squeezing comfortingly before he felt something… Cold? He glanced down, only just noticing Sera’s metal mechanical hand. “Oh my stars, what the hell is this--?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera quickly shook his head to reassure him. “Oh, th-that, it’s nothing, I’m alright.” He flexed the fingers of the device forward and then backwards. Until the fingers impossibly touched the back of his hand. Ew. Why does he keep doing that? “Just a run in with the void. It decided to take root in my hand. Figured it was the best course of action.” And looking at current events, it probably was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph marvelled at the device, glancing down at his own wrist. “And look at me, considering buying a shitty hook to get by. Where’d you get that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera sucks in air through his teeth. “I… Don’t think I can exactly recommend the vendor.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph huffs a laugh, wiping any remnants of tears off his own face and attempting to dry up the spot Sera cried into off his shoulder. “Between that and your… Boyfriend… We have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera exhaled through his nose, nodding. “I suppose so.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph was about to enter through his door, preparing his goodbyes before looking down to the boy. He then offered something else. “I’ve got some venison stored in the house, if you wanna talk over that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy pondered, looking behind him. He was able to return home. Recover. Think on everything. But… He was curious. What was the old man up to for the past four years? “Yeah. That… That’d be nice.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Harph smiled, widening the door to let them both in. “Alright. I’ll get started on the food. In the meantime, happy late birthday.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sera made a face as he entered, taking in the scenery. “Wait, what!?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your… Birthday?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I forgot when that was… Aela never celebrated that. Nobody did. You remembered?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mmmhmm. It was last month. The twelfth.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck… I’m… How old now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Twenty years and counting, boy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh jeez. I mean, that’s nothing compared to most kaldorei, but Maheer- that’s my boyfriend- and I are--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, the fuck? You’re dating cloud boy?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah! Wait, you know Maheer?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I met him a few times, I just didn’t think… You and him… Oh man.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The conversation continued for a few more hours as the front door was shut.</span>
</p>
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